Daley Ranch is Open Again!

The second weekend after Daley Ranch opened their trails, I was there just half an hour past the opening at 6 AM. While my eagerness played part in getting up so early, I knew that parking lots were opened at only 50% capacity. Even on a regular weekend, at times it would be difficult to find parking. It was even more important to me to get over a sleepless night and get up at 5 AM.

I've been hiking Monserate Mountain trail for several weeks now, and was getting to know very intimately every rock and turn. It was time to change gears and scenery.

The weather was mild and foggy on this Saturday morning. The sun did not have a chance yet to burn off the moisture, but I knew that the forecast was supposed to be good. I arrived at the usual parking lot only to find it barricaded. The signs directed me to go further towards Dixon Lake. After the right turn, I quickly found one of the parking lots to the left of the road and parked. It was a first win of the day!

Usually, the lake is open to camping for a fee, but today they were using those parking lots to limit people entering the Ranch. I took a side trail to get to my usual route, and ended up by the lake.

I realized that limiting people is actually not such a bad thing as I enjoyed the trail to myself. Initially, I was planning to listen to podcasts I have queued on my phone, but I felt like immersing myself in the sounds of nature - birds signing, lizards and mice running in the grass making noise of a large coyote (or so my mind was telling me), water burbling in the streams...

I was really disappointed that during this wildflower season in California, because of COVID-19 lockdowns I would not be able to enjoy the full beauty of spring hiking. I was happy to see that flowers did not stop growing. In fact, in the absence of humans, they bloomed even more! The blue and purple ones were my absolute favorites, hence, several close up pictures below.

The fog continued to cover the sky and trees, but it also made hundreds of spider webs visible just like this one.

The sun finally emerged after a few hours of hiking and started to illuminate and heat up everything else around.

Usually, as you go deeper and deeper in the park, fewer people emerge since who wants to hike 10 miles, right? I find that isolation peaceful and serene, and maybe scary at times. Today I felt that way even close to the trail head. The highly trafficked areas were almost empty. I could hear my footsteps and the water in my bottle moving with each step. Strange and yet so wonderful.

After 10.7 miles and 4 and a half hours of hiking, I felt a bit tired and refreshed. Nature healing, they say...